Captain fears 27-storey hotel will overshadow his Rutherglen House, that hosts parties with fab folk

He’s ridden in the Grand National, raced cars at Mt Panorama, played host to maharajahs and PMs, but the cigar smoking Peter Janson fears a $70m new hotel will crush the life out of his old Melbourne mansion and end his party.

Entering Peter Janson’s world is like stepping back in time, in royal fashion.

Is the party over at the fabulous city mansion of Peter Janson will be the question on the lips of 200 of the captain’s best friends at his birthday bash next week.

The party-loving Captain Janson has been playing host to prime ministers, premiers and the city’s elite for more than 60 years.

The English aristocracy have dined out on his hospitality since he took up residence at two of Melbourne’s iconic hotels and now Rutherglen House in Highlander Lane.

Janson says his life and the good times enjoyed by those who enter the world of Janson are about to be overshadowed by a $70-million hotel on the corner of Flinders and Highlander lanes.

Janson says the 27-storey hotel will dwarf one of the few grand residences still standing in Melbourne.

Captain Janson fears the noise and dust from a giant new hotel will “choke the life” out of him. Picture: David Caird

“The noise and the dust from the construction will choke the life out of me and Rutherglen House,” says Janson.

Melbourne City Council approved a permit for the hotel development last year, but Janson says he has received no word from the company.

“They need to talk to me. The financial impact will shut down my hospitality business. Rutherglen House costs more than $200,000 a year to maintain and there will be nothing coming my way while they demolish the existing buildings and start construction.”

Historic Rutherglen House in Highlander Lane. Picture: Eugene Hyland

A render of the CBD skyscraper planned for 475-485 Flinders Lane. Picture: Supplied

Rutherglen house was built as a city mansion in the mid-19th century.

Like the captain’s previous party places, it’s a step back in time as guests walk past a glowering, stuffed black bear into a vast room with a menagerie of stuffed animals staring from the walls.

Janson, who rode horses in the Grand National at Aintree and raced cars at Mt Panorama, loves a party as do the partygoers taken on tours of Indian-themed rooms to the round of show tunes played on grand pianos.

The New Zealand-born eccentric is an adventurer from another century, a former aide-de-camp to the King of Bhutan and a friend to Indian maharajahs.

The Maharajah of Baroda with Captain Janson. Picture: Supplied

Russian concert divas have performed at his parties. John Haddad, the former chief of Federal Hotels, occasionally entertains guests with his rendition of I Did It My Way.

It describes Janson’s singular life. Sons of the English aristocracy have worked as butlers to Janson.

The daughter of then British prime minister Margaret Thatcher once stayed as did world Formula One motor racing champion James Hunt.

At his birthday party on Tuesday (he never admits his age) the Earl of Loudoun, dressed in his kilt, will greet guests.

The earl, who lives in Wangaratta, has claims to the British crown, but supports the royal family and presented the golden spurs to King Charles at his coronation.

In his years at the Windsor, Janson enjoyed taking his aristocratic guests to a secret room where entry was through a door in the back of a wardrobe to a boudoir with a mirrored ceiling.

At Rutherglen House, Janson’s sapphire blue Rolls Royce is parked behind double gates leading off Flinders Lane.

A lift takes him inside where he sleeps in a bed alongside a coffin where he sometimes lies smoking a Cuban cigar.

Once, the lid fell while he was puffing. “It jammed and it was a day-and-a-half before someone heard me knocking to get out.”

One of Janson’s mates, a leading KC, may soon be knocking on the hotel developer’s door.